Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia, has made a fierce defence in court of his actions the night the cruise ship ran aground off the Tuscan island of Giglio, claiming 32 lives.

After requesting permission to speak for the first time in a pre-trial hearing that will determine whether he stands trial for multiple manslaughter, Schettino started a debate with an Italian navy admiral who co-wrote a damning report detailing how Schettino crashed the 114,500-tonne ship on rocks on 13 January.

According to reports from the closed hearing, the heated discussion with Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone carried on during a pause in the hearing, as Schettino claimed his steering after the impact grounded the vessel in shallow water, allowing passengers to reach the shore more easily.

Schettino's version had been contradicted on Wednesday by the prosecutor, Francesco Verusio, who said the ship's steering and propulsion jammed after the collision and passengers were saved by the "hand of God" as the wind blew the ship on to the rocks. "If there had been no wind that night, the ship would have capsized and sunk in a minute," he said.

Arriving at the hearing on Thursday, an upbeat Schettino said the ship's drift after the impact had been his decision, and added: "The hearings are going well."

Schettino's lawyers submitted 200 challenges to the experts' report and took the battle to the ship's operator, Costa Crociere, alleging delays by the firm's crisis unit in warning the coastguard. The company's lawyer, Marco de Luca responded that communicating with the coastguard that night was "a duty of the captain of the ship and not of the crisis unit or the company as a whole".

Cavo Dragone, a former head of Italy's navy seal divers, dismissed Schettino's claim that the collision could be blamed on a helmsman who had misunderstood his orders. Experts told the court the 13 seconds wasted by the helmsman were irrelevant and that the vessel, which was moving at 16 knots, would have struck rock regardless.

On Wednesday experts said Schettino had violated company policy by bringing on to the bridge a Moldovan member of the crew, Domnica Cermotan, as he attemped a closeup inchino, which translates literally as "bowing before", at Giglio.

Addressing a female journalist this week, Schettino joked: "Should I kiss your hand or bow?" an apparent pun on the disastrous manoeuvre.